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Take On Payments

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Take On Payments, a blog sponsored by the Retail Payments Risk Forum of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, is intended to foster dialogue on emerging risks in retail payment systems and enhance collaborative efforts to improve risk detection and mitigation. We encourage your active participation in Take on Payments and look forward to collaborating with you.

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March 11, 2019

Payments Webinar Explores a Fintech Talent Gap

Developments in financial technology (fintech), as welcome as they may be, are pressuring one of our most valuable resources: our workforce. Not only are there not enough candidates experienced in new fintech, but also there is a growing gap between the skills employers want and the skills that employed professionals have.

As fast as fintech is moving, it is important not to be hasty when making talent development decisions. Now is the time to be strategic and intentional in evaluating the ways to bridge the fintech talent gap. Most new banking technologies, especially those that are payments related (whether they’re offered by a traditional financial institution or a non-bank entity), require a new approach to software and cybersecurity. With this in mind, a fundamental feature of workforce development is aligning education and training programs with real business needs.

In the next episode of our Talk About Payments (TAP) webinar series, our panel will explore the underlying emerging technologies that are essential core knowledge for the payments and fintech workforce. We will also explore initiatives that are under way to bridge the fintech talent gap. Our panel will include:

  • Jessica J. Washington, AAP, Payments Risk Expert, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta
  • James Senn, Founding Director, Georgia Fintech Academy
  • Allen Sautter, Information Security Officer, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta

We encourage financial institutions, merchants, fintechs, payments processors, law enforcement, academia, and other payments system stakeholders to participate. Participants will be able to submit questions during the webinar.

The webinar will take place on March 21, from 1 to 2 p.m. (ET). To participate in the webinar, you must register in advance (there is no charge). You can register here. Once you have registered, we will send you a confirmation email with the login and toll-free call-in information. You can direct questions concerning the webinar to David Lott at david.lott@atl.frb.org. We hope you will join us and be part of the discussion.

Photo of Jessica Washington By Jessica Washington, AAP, payments risk expert in the Retail Payments Risk Forum at the Atlanta Fed

 

December 18, 2017

Training Workers for Payments Jobs

Do you boast, or at least talk, about your work in payments at social events? When I tell someone in a social setting that I work in payments, they either move on, after a polite pause, to meet the next person, or they take a deep breath and ask, “What does that entail?” What is most humbling is when I overhear my husband trying to explain my job. And what has been the most entertaining was when a four-year old asked me to perform an interpretive dance representing my occupation—a payments Nutcracker, if you will. Whatever the circumstance, you have to be ready to engage and convey excitement about all things payments to keep our workforce thriving. The industry is growing so rapidly that many employers are struggling to fill positions.

Many people I meet assume I am a mathematician when I talk about my work in payments. While I do own a calculator, I tell them, people in the payments workforce have diverse skill sets that go above and beyond using calculators. This diversity becomes more important every day, as technology keeps growing and changing. Ultimately, the majority of the population may not care how payments work, and they may not care to see an interpretive dance about payments. But there are dedicated, skilled professionals who, thankfully, perform their payments-related jobs safely and efficiently. And we need more of them.

The payments industry is growing. Fintechs alone account for a good portion of this growth. According to an industry research firm, venture capital-backed fintech companies globally raised a total of $5.2 billion in the second quarter of this year—–a 19 percent increase from last year. U.S. fintech funding saw a 58 percent rise, to $1.9 billion in the second quarter this year compared to $1.2 billion in the first quarter.

We need a more robust pipeline of available workers to support the growth in the industry. We need to both cultivate new talent and attract available skilled talent. This task can be daunting given the range of jobs available in the industry that transcend traditional educational curriculums.

Here are just a very few of many inspiring workforce training initiatives supporting industry growth today:

  • FinTech Atlanta, along with the University System of Georgia and other colleges and universities in Georgia, launched a FinTech Degree and Certificate Programs to create needed talent to fuel the fintech workforce.
  • NACHA, with the regional payments associations, has launched a Payments Risk Professional accreditation program. The program brings together skills for managing risk combined with knowledge in payment services, whether for financial institutions, solution providers, processors, businesses, or other end users.
  • Workforce Innovation Hub, sponsored by Accenture and affiliated with Atlanta's City of Refuge, provides nonprofit technical education options to lift the underemployed and underprivileged. The IT training program teaches software and application development, IT support, web development, graphic design, and more—all skills that can be put to use in payments and fintechs.
  • Some professional development programs work with military veterans, offering career opportunities and education resources that can help prepare them for careers in the payments industry. One example is First Data Salutes; another is Syracuse University's Institute for Veterans and Military Families (IVMF) and its affiliated program Entrepreneurs Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities.

Be a payments ambassador at your next social event and talk about your favorite payments initiative. It is up to you to decide if you want to perform an interpretive dance of your payments job—but it's up to all of us to keep our workforce growing at pace with the industry.

Photo of Jessica Washington  By Jessica Washington, AAP, payments risk expert in the Retail Payments Risk Forum at the Atlanta Fed